Fullmetal Alchemist: Vengence of the Ouroboro
by Winkle
Summary: Followup to the movie, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala and prequel to my fic, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Gate of Shambala. Check first chapter for introduction, more information and details.
1. Introduction

**FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: VENGENCE OF THE OUROBORO  
**

Written by Lewis (Winkle)

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** News Updated Jan 3/07 - Scroll Below to Read

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**Introduction**

This is the introduction page. It will provide you with some basic background information necessary for reading this piece of fiction. It is highly recommended that you read through this page before you proceed. The next chapter is the first chapter of the fiction. A more detailed summary can be found below. I would like to thank everyone who reads this, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy it.

i) This fiction is a prequel to my other FMA fan fiction, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Gate of Shambala (TGoS). Vengence of the Ouroboro (VotO) starts 1 year after the movie, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala (CoS) and goes up to about when GoS begins. VotO will consist of 13 chapters plus an epilogue, please note that this may be subject to change.

ii) VotO will answer several nagging questions left by TGoS, primarily what took place in the 4 years between my fic and the movie. One of the most common questions asked was how Edward and Alphonse ended up in the situation they were in at the start of TGoS. This plot point was only very briefly and vaguely explained, and was the point of contention in most of the critisms I recieved. VotO will serve to address this.

iii) VotO is a direct sequel to CoS, therefore there will be spoilers to the movie. You will need to have seen the full anime series and the movie to know what is going on in VotO. However, you don't need to read TGoS before VotO or vice versa, this fic will be written such that they can be read in any order.

iv) VotO will focus on Ed, Al and Noah. Other FMA characters such as Roy, Riza, Winry, etc. will not be in this story other then being mentioned because I consider their stories to be finished in TGoS.

v) Every chapter title is taken from the name of a song, where the song title and its lyrics have a certain relevence to that particular chapter. The name of the song, it's artist and where the song is featured in (album or anime series) will be listed below each chapter title. English and Japanese songs will both be utilized.

vi) I welcome feedback! Please, if you read this, write a review. If you see an error or something to pick at, knock yourself out. I want to make this a great piece of fiction, and I can only do it with everyone's help.

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**Updates**

**- Jan 3/07 -**  
Okay, well I guess I'm back. I actually started working on this thing around last April I think. I went ahead and formulated an overall plot outline and even wrote most of the first chapter... then I just let it sit and collect dust for 8 months. I tried working again on it several times but I couldn't muster up the motivation or drive for some reason. Anyway, over this past Christmas break I stumbled upon it again, and I gave it another go. I read over the plot outline I had written out initially and found that I wasn't too satisfied with it so I changed it considerably to something I liked more and then finished the first chapter. So here it is at last, the start of the much-delayed Vengence of the Ouroboro. Although keep in mind that classes just started again, and I have a lot of other things that will keep me busy. I will do my best to work on this and release chapters on a consistent basis. If you want to check out my previous work, The Gate of Shambala, just go to my profile page and follow the link there. Anyways, enjoy.

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**Summary**

The Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse embark on an epic journey to recover the sinister uranium bomb that was transported to The Other World. But their task will not be an easy one, as the Elrics have many enemies and few allies such as their friend Noa, who is trying to help them adapt to their new home. Both Ed and Al will take the first step towards their ultimate destiny, while being hounded by an old enemy who will stop at nothing to hunt them down.

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** Disclaimer**

I don't own any of the characters, worlds, materials or anything from the Fullmetal Alchemist universe. Except for any original characters created for this fiction.


	2. Chapter 1: Inerasable Sin

**CHAPTER 1**  
_**Inerasable Sin**_

_Inerasable Sin (Kesenai Tsumi) by Nana Kitada - As featured in Fullmetal Alchemist**  
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**Göttingen, Germany  
November 26th, 1924**

It was a cold, silent winter night in the town of Göttingen located in central Germany. The few, brightly glowing streetlights provided some illumination that penetrated the darkness which had engulfed the tranquil place. Nothing stirred at this late hour, save for the scattered snowflakes that drifted down from the heavens, and the lone policeman who was walking his patrol to ensure the peace. The University of Göttingen, established in 1734, and home to such famous professors as the brothers Grimm, was also deserted as its students and teachers had long since retired for the day. The campus was covered with a layer of powdery, white snow thick enough to blanket everything on the ground, including the aging buildings that dotted the complex.

The singular law enforcement officer however, paid little heed. He was far too busy trying to retain whatever warmth he could for himself. He gave the area one last, quick glance before he tightened his jacket in an effort to keep his body heat from escaping into the freezing night, before continuing his patrol. But he was not alone; a shadow in an alley had kept watch over him for the last several minutes. The silhouette did not move until the policeman had disappeared around a corner, and only then did the figure bolt into action.

It was small, and it was fast as the shape dashed across the street onto the University proper. A second appeared out of nowhere, following the first. Although they took care to avoid stepping directly into any of the streetlights, the faint moonlight showed both wearing long, grey hooded jackets that effectively hid their faces. The pair ran with considerable speed, flying by the many structures that represented the academia until they had reached one in particular. It was an unassuming, simple two-story, rectangular-shaped building dotted with windows, none of which were lit. The two figures hid in the shade, away from the revealing light of the streetlamps as they crept along the wall towards one of the wooden double-doors. Upon arrival, the first reached out its gloved hand to try the door knob, but it would not turn no matter how many times it was twisted.

"Damn." The first cursed in a whisper. "It's locked." The second, behind the first, pulled the hood back to reveal a young man in his mid teens, with matching golden hair and eyes.

"Are you sure this is the right one?" The second asked while lifting his head up to examine the structure more closely.

"I hope so; it looks like the description they gave us." The first replied, also pulling his hood back. This one was just slightly taller then the other, also older but with the same colour hair and eyes, albeit slightly brighter, and sporting a ponytail. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." He said with a sigh.

"Wait!" The second's eyes grew wide. "Hold on brother!" He almost yelled as he reached out to grab the first, but he was too slow. The first stretched his right, gloved hand out and firmly grasped the knob, and turned it with so much force that he literally tore the entire assembly out of the door.

"There we go, problem solved." The first grinned at the second while holding up what was left of the handle for him to see.

"I thought you said we were going to keep this subtle." The second spoke with some annoyance. "That's not subtle!"

"You worry too much Al." His brother tossed the wrecked mechanism behind his shoulder. "Come on let's go." He gestured, and walked into the building. Al let out a quiet sigh, and followed him in.

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It's been almost exactly a year since the catastrophic Beer Hall Putsch in Munich carried out by the followers of Adolf Hitler. It was also the anniversary of the failed invasion of Amestris by Dietlinde Eckart and the Thule Society. Her death and the disaster that was the incursion dealt a heavy blow to the Thules. They lost much of their resources and influence and have not been able to recover since. 

Incidentally, one of those resources was the uranium bomb the Thules had obtained. The same device that was bought to this world when an alchemist named Huskisson tried to transmute a number of corpses while clutching his prized procession. It had fallen into the hands of the Thules, and they used every opportunity to study it. But that would not last long. When the scientists that were assigned the responsibility of examining the device heard of the coup and potential demise of their superiors, they seized the chance and fled with the bomb.

They had hidden themselves and the weapon well. It had taken the Elrics nearly twelve months to track them down. They had sworn they would recover it, for neither world needed such a terrible instrument of destruction. And here they were, breaking into the main research laboratory of the University of Göttingen in the middle of a winter night. Their long and arduous investigation had pointed to this location, they had been wrong many times before, but they believe they got it right this time. They hoped that at last, this is the place where their prize was being kept, so they can finally end their long search.

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Edward and Alphonse Elric, aged 15 and 20 respectively, stood in a dim corridor. A series of doors, each with small windows, lined both sides of the hall. The place was eerily lit by what little moonlight that managed to shine through the glass panes of the doors. It was significantly warmer then outside, and for that the brothers were grateful. 

"Upstairs?" Al whispered.

"Yes, let's find the stairs." Ed replied quickly, and the two started walking. The entire building was devoid of life, it was deadly quiet and the air was still. Even though they were alone, they didn't want to make any unnecessary noise, as stealth was essential to their mission. They wanted to pull this off without anything knowing, or leaving any trace of their presence behind.

"Here." Ed gestured at the set of wooden stairs to the side, and both crept up it slowly. Despite their caution, the wooden planks still creaked under the heavy weight of Ed's automail leg, which caused him to wince in irritation. They made their way to the second floor, where a few turns and hallways later they found the room they were looking for.

It was open, and they entered. It was another one of the many individual research laboratories that populated this structure. It wasn't very large, but was filled with work benches and shelves that were covered with all manners of test tubes, burners, thongs, and various varieties of equipment. It was nearly identical to all the other rooms they have passed by, with one exception. In one corner, was a grey, metal vault that stood about a meter in both height and width.

"I think this is it." Al whispered quietly, just loud enough for his voice to reach across to his brother. The Elrics approached the vault and quickly examined it. The metal safe was securely locked, and could only be opened with a pair of keys, neither of which they had. "This thing is built pretty solid brother." Al muttered, to which Ed nodded in agreement.

"And it's too big for us to carry. So I guess there's only one way to do this." Ed gave his younger sibling a wicked grin. This time though, Al didn't bother as he knew his objection would fall upon deaf ears. Ed removed his gloves, and rolled up his right sleeve to reveal his automail arm which reflected the moonlight filtering through the windows.

"Try not to make a huge mess brother." Al said wearily. Ed didn't reply, instead he wound his right arm back and took a full swing. His clenched fist impacted against the hard metal of the vault door with a massive bang, but the sturdy construct only slowed Ed's powerful mechanical arm. The vault door buckled inwards, snapping at the hinges. The older Elric withdrew his metal limp and allowed the door to fall onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Winry's workmanship keeps getting better." Ed commented while flexing his automail fingers and arm, although he noticed that there some new scratch marks on his knuckles.

"If she was here, she would kill you for abusing her workmanship like that." Al replied dryly. After making his way to the wrecked vault, he peered inside and let out a sigh of relief.

"Well? Is it here Al?" The younger Elric didn't speak, pausing for a second for dramatic effect before lifting a heavy, dark spherical object out of the safe to show to his brother. When Ed saw what was in Al's arms, he too let out a sigh feeling a heavy burden being lifted from his shoulders. "Alright!" Ed let out a small cheer, and Al gave him a thumbs up.

"We better get out of here before we get caught." Al whispered, ending their short celebration.

"Yea, let's get going." Ed concurred and the two turned towards the door to exit… only to come face to face with a large, muscled-man not unlike Louis Armstrong dressed in the uniform of a campus security guard. The Elrics stopped dead in their tracks, left speechlessly staring at the obstacle blocking their escape.

"What are you two doing here?" The burly guard bellowed. "And what are you doing with that?" The man's eyes drifted towards the bomb cradled in Al's arms.

"Ah… well… we're students here and we err…" Ed started stuttering, as the creative part of his brain couldn't keep up with his mouth.

"We forgot our experiment in the lab!" Al cut in. "So we came back to get it." The guard gave them a funny looking, obviously not quite buying their story.

"You came back to the lab for an experiment, at two o'clock in the morning?"

"We're dedicated students… very dedicated!" Ed answered quickly, giving a broad, innocent smile and laughing uneasily. The guard continued sizing them up for a few more seconds when the Elrics noticed his eyes darting to the destroyed safe behind them. _Uh-oh._ They both thought at the same time.

"What happened here?!" The guard yelped. "Don't move!" He commanded as he moved past them to get a closer look at the ruined vault. During his inspection however, he didn't notice the Elrics quietly sneaking out the door. "Are you two responsible for…" He started to turn but stopped when he realized the two so-called students had disappeared. "Hey!" He yelled as he poked his head out the hallway and noticed the brothers trying to tip-toe down the stairs. "Get back here!"

"Run!" Ed gave his brother a light shove to get him moving faster. The pair flew down the steps as fast as their feet would allow them, with the stairs shaking at each step the oversized guard took to follow them. The rumbling though only served as a further motivation for the Elrics to run even faster, they both landed with their feet on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, and made a final dash to the exit.

"Stop right where you are!" A silhouette jumped out in front of the door that led out of the building. It was another security guard, although smaller then the first they encountered, but this one was armed. In his hands was a small gun pointed squarely at the intruders. Ed and Al were in full gallop at this point, and had to stomp hard on the brakes to come to a screeching halt. The lumbering giant behind them positioned himself to prevent any attempts by the Elrics to retreat.

"Damn, he's got friends." Ed cursed angrily under his breath.

"I called the police already, and they're on their way Günter." The guard in front informed his compatriot.

"Good." The larger guard replied. "And I think you two better drop what you were trying to steal and give yourselves up." It sounded more like an order then a suggestion, causing Al to flash a glare at their captors while tightening his grip on the bomb nestled in his arms.

"What do we do now brother?" Al whispered without taking his eyes off the guards. Ed didn't react physically, as his brain was working hard on trying to plot a way out of their predicament. "Alchemy sure would be handy right about now." Al remarked.

"No kidding." Ed smirked, matching his brother's sarcasm.

"Be quiet, both of you!" Günter bellowed to silence them.

"Who are they?" The other guard inquired. Günter shook his head.

"I don't know Barry, they said they were students."

"What? They're both too small to be university students." Barry observed, almost mockingly. The comment however, was enough to make Ed's face turn red and eyes darken in pure rage.

"WHO…" The Fullmetal Alchemist yelled in all his fury while gesturing angrily with his arms. Al could only muster a frown. "ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?!" Ed prepared to charge the armed guard like an infuriated bull at a matador but was stopped by the sickening crack of walnut making contact with the back of a skull.

"What…" Al flinched slightly, thinking the guard had fired his gun but was surprised to see Barry crumple to the ground in a heap to reveal four heavily armed men standing just behind him. The one who had rendered Barry unconscious with his MP18 sub-machinegun aimed his weapon at the trio standing before them in shock.

"There!" He pointed at the ball clutched in Al's arms. "He's got the bomb! Shoot him!" The four gunmen steadied their weapons and pulled the triggers.

"Al!" Ed warned his brother unnecessarily, they were both experienced and seasoned at combat and they jumped instinctively in opposing directions around the corner and out of harm's way as a fatal hail of bullets shot past them. The burly Günter though, wasn't nearly as fast on his feet and his large frame made for an easy target, he took a number of slugs in his body before falling to the ground dead.

"Quickly! After them!" The leading gunman directed and the group of four ran down the hall to catch their prey. But as they rounded the corner, one of them took a fistful of automail in the jaw, the force of the impact sent the man tumbling through the air into another gunman knocking them both out.

"Why you!" The third gunmen tried to swing his weapon around to point it at Ed when a dark metallic sphere slammed into the back of his head sending him straight to the floor. The last gunman, who was behind the third squeezed the trigger of his MP18, letting lose a small burst of bullets that forced Al to dive across the hall to the corner on Ed's side.

"Damned runts!" The last gunman screamed as he fired burst after burst from his sub-machinegun, preventing Ed or Al from peering behind their cover.

"We can wait until he has to reload." Al suggested. "Then we can rush him."

"He's got a pistol though." Ed rejected the idea, but he had one of his own. "Al, give me that." He motioned to the uranium bomb, and Al handed it to him. Ed grabbed it by one of the circular handles on the top and bottom with his automail arm and waited until the firing stopped. When they could hear the distinctive clicking noise produced by a gun with an empty magazine, Ed leapt into action.

"Alright, batter's up!" Ed wound up his right arm, stepped out and hurled the ball-shaped uranium bomb in his hand with all his might. The gunman had no chance and the hard, metallic bomb hit him dead smack in the face, taking him out of the fight. "Strike!" Ed cheered, pumping his automail arm.

"Brother!" Al slapped the older Elric in the back of the head with some strength, ruining his short-lived celebration.

"What!" Ed replied angrily, turning to face his sibling, and noticed that he did not look at all pleased. "What was that for?!"

"Can you not throw a _bomb _around like it's a baseball?!" Al reminded him what it was they were carrying around.

"It's fine!" Ed answered with some irritation. "Plus, you cracked that guy's skull open with it before anyway!" Ed motioned at one of the fallen gunmen.

"That was different!" Al found himself on the defensive.

"Oh it was not." Ed causally waved him off, and walked over to pick up the bomb. "You worry too much Al."

"It's not like I have a choice." Al fumed, when they heard of the sounds of cars rumbling towards their location. "Sounds like the police are here finally."

"Yea. That's our cue to leave." Ed started jogging towards the exit. Al took one last glance at the mess they were leaving before turning to join his brother. The two once again set foot on snow-covered ground when they heard a loud pop followed immediately by the pang of a bullet ricocheting of the bomb tucked underneath Ed's arm. The force of the bullet was enough to dislodge the bomb where it landed a few feet away from the Elrics.

"Ah!" Ed let out a yelp, and the two quickly turned to see one of the gunmen propping himself up from the floor with one arm, while the other held a Mauser C96 pistol with a smoking barrel pointed towards them. The Elrics dove to the side and into the snow as the gunman fired several more times, preventing them from retrieving the bomb.

"They don't know when to give up!" Ed said to himself.

"Brother! Look!" Al pointed to a pair of cars roaring into the university campus. Although he couldn't make out the vehicles, he knew what they weren't. "Those aren't police cars."

"These guys must have friends too." Ed stated but they had both already came to that conclusion.

"We can't take them all on." Al pointed out the obvious. Ed let out an angry growl and punched the ground in frustration. "Brother…"

"I know." Ed collected himself. "Let's go…", they both started sprinting away in the opposite direction of the vehicles.

"It's not over yet." Al tried to console his brother in between breaths as they ran full speed. "We'll get it back." But Ed didn't seem to hear him.

"So close." Ed muttered as they faded into the night. "So close…"

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The automobiles had stopped just outside the building where all the ruckus had just taken place. In the back of the second vehicle, a man sat quietly thinking to himself when he was interrupted by a gentle knock on the window. He rolled the glass down part way, letting in a small gust of chilly winter night air, but the thick black leather trench-coat he was wearing was sufficient to keep his body warm. He glanced at his subordinate briefly but kept most of his face shadowed with the brim of his matching, black fedora hat. 

"Report." The man ordered in a stern voice.

"We have successfully obtained the objective Herr Hess."

"Excellent work." Rudolf Hess complimented his lackey. "And the status of Karl's team?"

"They have sustained moderate injuries, but otherwise are fine." Hess nodded in approval. "There is one more thing." The fedora-adorned head turned slightly to the man in attention. "Karl said _they_ were here, the one with the machine arm."

"Oh?" This seemed to have perked his superior's interest. "This has been a good night indeed, we have the bomb and found the Elric brothers. _He _will be very happy to hear of this." Hess allowed himself a smile.

"The police will be here soon, we should leave as soon as possible." The subordinate pointed out.

"Yes, of course." Hess had to refocus on the task at hand. "Load up the rest of the wounded and we will go." The man nodded and moved to relay the instructions. "And don't forget, this place must be thoroughly cleaned." Hess reminded. "We can't let anyone know the Thule Society was here."

_To Be Continued…  
In Chapter 2: The Light Before We Land_


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